


Fourteen Million

by Charitabl3



Series: Stephen Strange won't sing no requiem tonight [1]
Category: Doctor Strange (2016), Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Avengers: Endgame (Movie) Compliant, Comfort/Angst, Everyone Needs A Hug, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Gay, Gay Character, M/M, Not Avengers: Endgame (Movie) Compliant, Parent Stephen Strange, Parent Tony Stark, Protective Stephen Strange, Stephen Strange Needs a Hug, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Tony Stark Needs a Hug, Tony Stark/Stephen Strange Parenting Peter Parker | Supremefamily | Strange Family, prompts
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-14
Updated: 2021-03-17
Packaged: 2021-03-22 09:47:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,296
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30036795
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Charitabl3/pseuds/Charitabl3
Summary: 14, 000, 605. It wasn't just possibilities and futures he had seen... he had lived through these 'futures'. He called them 'timelines' instead, but he couldn't possibly tell anyone that. No one must know what he knows.Surprisingly, in nearly all timelines he had lived through... he had a family. His heart and soul... Peter and Tony. It was unfortunate that his original timeline didn't include this minor detail.______________Prompts/ One-shots/ short storiesEvery single short story you see here is a timeline Stephen 1.0 had lived through :)
Relationships: IronStrange - Relationship, Peter Parker & Stephen Strange, Peter Parker & Tony Stark, Tony Stark/Stephen Strange
Series: Stephen Strange won't sing no requiem tonight [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2209626
Kudos: 22





	1. #150 248

**Author's Note:**

> prompt: Father Time by iamjakehill  
> Not compliant with the general timeline of Infinity War and Endgame, but does include Thanos wanting to snap half the universe into non-existence, blah blah blah.
> 
> So Father Time, hold back tonight.  
> My tired eyes… won’t last this time.

Stephen Strange sank to his knees, vaguely aware of Tony and Peter crying out to him in worry. The purple being… Thanos, that son of a… grinned all feral-like, stepping towards the fallen sorcerer who had displayed his surrender.

The sorcerer still remembered the time when he had trapped himself and Dormammu in an endless loop of time, to force the monstrous entity into agreeing to his bargain which spared Earth. He still could feel the terrible pains of dying thousands of painful deaths over and over again… Internally, he curled up into a ball, whimpering in terror at the traumatic memories… Indeed, his stoic front had finally cracked, revealing a broken, terrified man, which had been suppressed for so many years…

He felt his body ascend into the air - probably magic - and all he could see was the wastelands of the planet he once considered home… he still considered home. After all, if this wasn’t his home, why would he be fighting for the planet’s survival? Alas… Stephen wasn’t thinking clearly. His mind screamed DORMAMMU in terror as he lost rationality. 

The Sorcerer Supreme… not so supreme anymore as he descended into the hell that was a panic attack, during the battle which would decide Earth’s and the rest of the Universe’s fate. He could do nothing but watch as the Eye of Agamotto broke away from his neck, slowly floating towards Thanos.

But then, twin shouts broke him out of his stupour. Stephen turned his head and saw his heart and soul charge at Thanos. ‘N-no… TONY! PETER!’ he tried to scream at them to stop, stop, STOP! But his voice had fled him. Thanos grunted in surprise as he was ambushed, strong attacks from the spider and the metal suit rained down on him. Peter, silent with unadulterated fury, wrenched the gauntlet off the purple being’s grip, and Tony swooped in between Thanos and the limp Sorcerer, grabbing the Eye.

The two angry and determined heroes landed beside Stephen, hoisting his form which had then crumpled to the ground, while Thanos heaved himself onto his feet in his disorientation.

“Stephen, are you alright?” Tony murmured, helmet falling away as he embraced the sorcerer in a warm hug which sent waves of relief throughout Stephen, leaving behind love and gratitude which lingered in his veins. Peter joined in, wearing a solemn expression on his now exposed face, snuggling into his two adoptive dads with a frown on his face.

Stephen shook his head, immediately regretting the action which had sent a wave of dizziness throughout him. “I’m not okay,” he managed out, heart thumping wildly as he felt the eyes of his loved ones on him. “Dormammu…” he whimpered out, tears threatening to fall from his weary and dazed eyes. 

Peter’s frown deepened as he gripped the two harder. Tony had tears in his eyes as he stared deeply into the eyes of the broken sorcerer, the stormy grey eyes which once held resolve and calm, now dull.

This was his family. Stephen’s heart and soul, his backbone… they were his everything. When he lost his hands, they were there. Unjudging. Loving. Accepting. He came to a final realisation, that filled him to the brim with fiery passion and determination.

He would do anything. Absolutely anything. For Tony and Peter.

The sorcerer gazed upon his family, the one that sacrificed so much for him. He found his voice again, and even though he spoke with a tremble in his voice, he found strength to say what he had to say.

“Do you trust me?” 

Tony gazed at him with a vulnerability reserved only for Peter and himself. Warm hands met trembling hands gently, and Stephen saw so much love there, it shook him at his core. Peter held the same expression, lips pressed tightly together as he struggled not to let his teenage hormones best him. 

He didn’t even need a reply to the question, and they knew that they needn’t have answered. But they did.

“Yes,” came the simultaneous reply, and Stephen nodded. 

Fueled by his love, righteous anger and fiery passion, he wasn’t about to let Thanos win again, just like every timeline he had lived through, he was going to live through and he was living through. His body ascended into the air, away from the warmth that was his family. How he longed for that warmth, but he knew that he couldn’t remain in there forever. 

His sweet son, Peter. The key to his heart, Tony. He was never going to let them down ever again, just like all the countless times he had pushed them away, all the times he fought with them, all the times he ignored them in favour of his work. 

Stephen willed. Hard. He willed the six stones towards his floating form, and they came. At that point, he was only a little surprised at the fact that he had brought the universe’s tethers towards him with merely the power of will. Landing on his open palm, the stones seemed to twinkle like the countless stars in the galaxies, winking at him, gleaming at him. The stones softly buzzed with power that teased him with their true power, what their real power could truly bring. 

Stephen clenched his fist over the stones, and shattered the stones with magic, letting their power flow into his body. 

His body jerked, lightning racing over his whole form. He felt unimaginable pain, beyond any pain he had experienced at the hands at Dormammu and the time loop. However, he tried his very best to ignore it, instead staring at the shocked purple being, glaring at him with the intensity of a thousand suns.

The Sorcerer Supreme opened his palm. Six crumbling, grey stones fell through his trembling fingers, the sand-like substance being carried away by the winds. At the point of time, he was still suffering from that terrible, agonizing pain, and his vision started to darken as his chest constricted, his whole form wrecked with pain. But then… something truly… magical happened. Warmth blossomed in his two shoulders, and in turning his head to my left and right, Stephen inhaled a painful breath at the sight of Tony and Peter, suspended in the air next to him on either sides. Lightning from the stones (or what was left of them, their power) crackled over their bodies.

The pain faded. His skin, which had started to blister and burn, seemed to heal on its own and faded back to its skin tone. He could finally feel the true power of the six Infinity Stones coursing throughout his body, his hands glowing white. Tony and Peter fared similarly, the green glow of Peter’s hand glowing right through his suit, the dormant power in Tony’s palm gauntlets glowing blue, brighter than ever before, his unibeam chest projector also matching his gauntlets in power.

Their eyes… Their irises glowed with colour and power, Peter and Tony looking almost celestial as their eyes glowed green and blue respectively.

Stephen didn’t need to look in a mirror to know that his eyes were glowing too. And judging from the now pure-golden magic his hands were drenched in, he knew his eyes glowed golden. 

The three heroes floated 10 feet above the ground, staring at the dumb-struck being who once had thought that his mission, his purpose was inevitable. 

“You are… inevitable?” the sorcerer murmured mockingly, his ominous voice projecting everywhere, bringing the battles everywhere to a standstill as the beings from all worlds turned to witness the final battle.

“The stones were vessels,” Peter proclaimed in a scaringly solemn voice.

“Their true power could never fully be wielded by gauntlets, pendants nor scepters,” Tony continued, voice lacking all its usual swagger and pride. 

“Your mission was hopeless. You messing with the balance of the universe was a cosmic, universal crime,” Stephen’s voice resonated in his own ears and in everyone’s. He never once questioned what the three of them were saying, knowing that the knowledge was bestowed upon them by the stones, like a divine revelation. 

“You were destined to be thwarted,” he continued, his eyes fixed on Thanos, and the sorcerer couldn’t help but notice the one emotion in the purple being’s eyes that no one had ever seen before. Fear.

“It was never meant to be,” all three heroes proclaimed, and the light of the stones’ powers shone brighter than ever as the universe turned pure white.


	2. #150 248 (2)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Stephen, Peter and Tony find out who they truly are now. Answers... don't we all love them?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Part 2 of Timeline #150248!   
> I'm not that proud of it, but I had to continue it to add some context to whatever happened last chapter. :)
> 
> No prompts this time, just a continuation :D

We were floating in a white void, blank as an untouched canvas and whiteness so bright it hurt my eyes.

A groan emitted from my left. I was met with the sight of Peter rubbing his eyes, a weary expression outlining his features. “Jesus… that was tiring…” he groaned. I raised a questioning eyebrow at the boy… my boy. Affection bloomed in my chest, blossoming throughout my body.

Seeing my judging look, the teen grinned, albeit tiredly. “Being serious and all that. Not my style, but the situation beckoned for it.”

“Yeah, Underoos… I get it. I had never felt more solemn in my life…” a voice on my right spoke. The fondness then melted into something sweeter. My love… the one I wanted to spend the rest of eternity with. Tony.

“Welcome, Stephen Strange, Tony Stark, Peter Parker.”

The three of us turned to the source of that voice. It was neither female nor male… neither soft nor loud… neither gentle nor harsh. It was… oddly welcoming, coming from such an unhuman voice.

There was no doubt on who, or what that was. At least, for us. Six ‘blobs’ of colour floated before us, all of a different colour. The sentient Infinity Stones....

I refused to beat around the bush... I’d done too much already. “What are we?”

“You three have become the first sentient beings to hold our power,” the blue blob announced with a flourish. The space stone. 

“But… why us?” Peter questioned. Why me? was the silent question, I could practically hear. Why a lowly teen, who hadn’t even reached adulthood yet?

“You were worthy. The three of you were worthy,” the purple blob shined just a bit brighter. The power stone.

“Thanos never knew the most important thing while wielding us,” Mind continued, its yellow essence shimmering softly. “How to truly use our power, was to share it with others.”

“...Hello Stephen.”

I recognised that voice. Not because I had heard that voice before, but because of the familiar magic that had washed over me the moment that voice spoke. A touch of nostalgia overcame my senses for a second, before it settled, leaving me in a state of comfort.

“Time,” my mouth moved of its own accord, seeing as I was still processing what was happening to us. 

“Yes, Stephen,” the voice was… gentle. Like the soothing song of a mother, the passive yet proud rumble of a father. “Remember the 14,000,605 timelines you foresaw? You lived through?”

An involuntary shudder rippled throughout my body. Yes. Of course I did. How could I forget all the bittersweet memories? The angst, the love, the pain?

“I never showed you everything. That was only a tiny percentage of all Time. There are infinite amounts of timelines, endless possibilities of success and failure.”

Time seemed to wink at me. “You only saw one possibility of success. This was one of the successes that you never saw. Keep an open mind, my child, for many other challenges will be thrown in your way.”

Reality let out something similar to a chuckle. “You three will now be connected in many powerful ways. In family. In soul. In blood. For Tony and Stephen,” it paused, and continued with a tone so powerfully warm it made the warmth in my chest burst with overwhelming feeling. “In intimate love.”

“We shall reside in you from now on,” the six stones chanted in unison. “You shall bring about great things for this universe.”

And I closed my eyes, and became more than the Sorcerer Supreme.


	3. #8390

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Another prompt, but the story didn't exactly go where I had originally planned. (Also the ending is due to the fact that I had been watching too much sad TS and PP edits-)
> 
> enjoy...
> 
> Prompt:
> 
> Tony, in the middle of the battle: Does anyone have a better plan?  
> Peter: What if we replaced the Infinity Stones in the gauntlet with gushers and I keep the stones in my mouth?

"-anyone have a better plan-?!"

Peter's eyebrows dipped down, helmet falling away as he breathed in the fresh air he needed. His brain was hard at work, thinking up of many different possibilities and running through them to see how they might end up. The people standing around him seemed to notice his frozen form, staring at him expectantly as they all took a breather from the fight happening around them. 

1 second…

2 seconds…

3 seconds…

4-

"I GOT IT!"

Tony spun around  _ very _ slowly, his intrigued fierce eyes on his adoptive son. Peter was smirking at no one in particular as he seemed to celebrate the fact that he was the smartest human being alive. The engineer twitched, wanting to surge forward to grab the boy by the shoulders but forced himself to stay still. 

"What if we replaced all the Infinity stones in the gauntlet with gushers while I keep the stones in my mouth??"

Silence ensued. Well, as silent as a battlefield can get. 

"...what are gushers…" 

"...Kid, you're a genius!"

Peter blinked. 

That mad spark of creativity was back in the engineer's eyes, as he started to pace back and forth, seemingly overflowing with a child-like excitement. Spinning around, Tony's mouth stretched into a wide grin as he stalked over to the spider-teen and embraced him in a hug. The boy blinked again, at this point practically catonic as he processed what was his mentor on about. 

"Well, the keeping-stones-in-mouth part wasn't good but replacing the stones is a brilliant idea! Underoos, you're promoted."

"...promoted to what, Mr Stark?"

"My best man for my future wedding."

"?!-"

"But," a man with a wild, uncut beard stepped forward, the breeze ruffling his long hair. Thor. "He'll eventually get back the stones. And then he'll go  _ snap- _ "

Peter and Tony frowned, opening their mouths to reply but was promptly spared by a certain doctor, who gravitated forward to add to the discussion. 

"A ruse. We can use this as a ruse. We could somehow create a counterfeit gauntlet, snatch the real gauntlet, confuse him with the fake one, and pray that Thanos gets confused long enough for us to kill him." 

Someone then proceeded to step in and share his input. The man, identified by Peter as Starlord, fiddled with his gun as he spoke. 

"But how do we create a counterfeit, but convincing gauntlet to fool him? It would take days, months, even years-"

Dr. Strange then lit up minutely, a small smirk gracing his features as he twisted his body around to open a portal. 

"Banner! Do you still have that gauntlet prototype?"

On the other side of the glowing portal, a huge green buff being which donned a pair of spectacles came into view momentarily, before a golden chunk of metal was chucked through the portal, landing on the ground with a loud crash as it skidded across the ground. 

"Thanks, Banner," the corners of Strange’s mouth quirked up, making an attempt to not laugh at the rest of the team's faces. The portal vanished with a pop, the remnant sparks falling to the ground before disappearing. 

The doctor's face faded back to its regular poker face, and with the coldest face he was able to muster up, he shoved a hand at the prototype, calling upon his magic to lift the thing off the ground. "Doctor Banner had been working on that thing for a while now, he thought that it would've been a good idea to try to replicate the gauntlet for a situation like this."

An indignant squawk came out from the engineer clad in red-and-yellow metal. "And I wasn't consulted once?!"

The ghost of a smile flickered on the Sorcerer’s face, eyes glinting with mirth as he gently levitated the metal glove to the silently seething mechanic. 

A single metal finger prodded at the gauntlet, Tony scrutinised the prototype, every once in a while flipping the gauntlet over to prod at a specific joint or area. Letting out hums of approval, the man’s eyebrows lifted so high that it nearly disappeared into the suit. “Damn, Brucie-Bear’s outdone himself once again. Though I’d never thought that he was one for mechanical engineering…”

“So how are we gonna do this? Just… snatch the real gauntlet from Thanos’ hand, that simple?” Quill quipped, spinning his gun so fast that it seemed like a blur to the others. A look of mischief dawned across the billionaire’s face, and in one swift motion, tossed the prototype to his skittish spider protégé, who startled and caught it with one hand. 

“Yeah, why not? Let’s do this.”

____________________________

“Yo, saggy purple grape! Over here, asshole!” Thanos grunted in irritation at the name, turning to the floating red-and-yellow suit. 

“Admit defeat, Man of Iron! Your defeat is inevitable. Just hand over the Time stone, and I will spare you and your friends,” the mad Titan proclaimed gruffly, sending a beam of pure Power at the billionaire, who did a backflip mid-air to dodge it. 

“Never. I swear upon my life, that I will never ever let a wrinkly grape wipe out my people. Don’t even think about it,” Tony’s voice was light, but a dark undertone was present in his voice, the Titan taking note of his oath and shaking his head. 

“So be it, morta-”

“WASSUP, BITCH!” a screech rang in Thanos’ left ear as a lean body in a red suit flew past his body, the Titan startling as the gauntlet was snatched away from his grip. Rage descended on his face as he started towards the swift spider, who was making a break for it into the battle.

A whistle came from the suited billionaire, as he turned to watch the retreating teen. “Language, kid!” He turned back to the enraged Titan, but was met with empty space, as the ‘wrinkled purple grape’ took after Peter. 

“Oh no you don’t,” Tony mumbled, and signalled for the nearby heroes to go after him. Zipping off in the Titan’s direction, he fired repulsor beams, unfortunately missing them all. The telltale sound of thunder echoed throughout the battlefield, as a certain god of thunder flew across the lands, overtaking the billionaire. 

Deadly arrows whistled through the air, each arrow finding its mark and wiping out legions of Thanos’ army. Swords clashed, shots were fired, blood was being showered everywhere, regardless human or alien. 

A pained cry caught the billionaire’s attention. Spinning around mid-air, Tony surged towards the Titan, who had pinned down Peter under his foot, slowly crushing him even as the kid struggled with all his might. His exposed hand was gripping the gauntlet with superhuman strength, and Thanos was attempting to wrestle the gauntlet out of his hand. Tony raised his hand to fire a beam at the Titan, but his protégé caught his eye, and shook his head.

Oh… that… oh, yeah.

A mad grin slowly spreaded across the Titan’s face, as he slid his hand into the gauntlet, not noticing that the stones had lost their shine, lost their mystical glow… 

“I am… inevitable.”

_ Snap. _

__________________________

  
  


Tony smirked at the dumbfounded look on Thanos’ face.

The mad Titan clearly wasn’t as smart as he’d thought.

Until a choked grunt drew the two’s attention

as Peter shoved the real gauntlet down on his hand.

  
  


Tony cried out, “NO, KID!”

But the spider’s exposed face managed a weak grin.

Lightning raced across that young, pained yet determined face.

As the kid took the fate of the universe in his hands.

  
  


“It’s okay, Mr Stark,” Peter grinned weakly,

The billionaire couldn’t seem to move.

“Thank you for everything, Dad…”

And those trembling fingers came together, in the final snap that saved the universe.

  
  


_ Happy endings are never truly realistic.  _


End file.
